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"The most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire." -Ferdinand Foch
Jaune walked into one of Beacon's large simulation rooms dressed in his armor with all his weapons sheathed/holstered. The whole thing was just a big, white, empty room except for a control console next to the sliding doors. Jaune made his way over to it and typed in the settings for the sim he wanted. This simulators had an index of any environment, area, city, opponent and exercise type and difficulty possible. From a pack of beowolves in the jungle to a squadron of stealthy assassins on a snow-capped mountain.
Jaune scrolled through before deciding on what he wanted and making his way to one end of the room. The floor started glowing before it changed completely to a grassy field, a cobblestone road rising from it, and then a bunch of small buildings, houses, shops and side streets until the construction was finished. An autonomous voice sounded, "Simulation construction complete. Map type: Rural Village. Opposition: Three Squadrons, Atlesian Knight MK IV series. Objective 1: Find and retrieve the recovery beacon. Objective 2: Eliminate all hostiles. Simulation begin."
Jaune scanned the village and decided to start his search at the tallest building that had the words State House engraved over the door.
The boy got Crocea Mors and Dragon Song out as he listened to the sound of metal feet hit stone and mechanical limbs move in their sockets. As the robots emerged from the alley ways and side streets of the village, Jaune rushed them, jumping forward and landing on one of the knights, pushing it down before rolling forward off its head. As he stood, he slashed the heads off two knights on opposite sides of him and shot a fire dust round at the feet of four robots, the explosion launching the charred exoskeletons sparking and twitching as they shut down.
He then switched his pistol to his tomahawk and used it to hook onto one of the lower buildings and climbing on to the roof. He sprinted across, jumping from rooftop to rooftop before he stopped as three knights blocked his path. He fired at them before running the last one through with his sword. Jaune jumped down and was immediately surrounded by more robots.
The boy smirked and held his weapons at the ready as he shouted, "SU GRAH DUN!" A gray, swirling mist circled around him, and his eyes started glowing an electric blue. Jane's smirk turned into a mad grin as he tore through the metallic soldiers.
The robots barely had time to react as they were sliced, hacked or even torn to pieces. Jaune, strengthened by his elemental fury shout, was much faster. He buried his sword up to the hilt in one knights abdomen. However, he had to jump back to avoid getting his arms sliced off from another robot, leaving his sword in the dead knight out of his reach. He dodged and ducked as the robot tried to use the dual blades protruding from its wrists to gut him. It lunged with its right blade, and Jaune grabbed its arm and twisted, bringing the metal limb behind the knight's body and stabbing it through its back with its own wrist blade.
He jumped and rolled forward to avoid gunshots from a group of snipers on the roof of the state house. He grabbed his sword, taking the detached torso of the robot it was stabbed in and launching the body, hitting one of the snipers and sending it falling off the roof.
Jaune rushed to the door of the building, entering and slamming the door behind him. He took a moment to catch his breath as the effects of his last shout dissipated, his eyes returning to their oceanic blue. He observed his current location. Four walls, a few bookshelves, a large chalkboard attached to the wall opposite said bookshelves, some trash littered around.
Unholstering Grieving Widow, he pulled back the hammer of his revolver and crept around the large room.
"If I were a recovery beacon, where would I be?" He muttered. He then heard a soft beeping coming from the shelves lined with books. He followed the noise until he found the source, a small, hardback book with a red cover. He opened it and saw that a square hole was cut into the pages, where a small, silver disk was stored. A blue light blinked on and off in rhythm with the beeping, and Jaune snatched it and made his way up to the roof where he remembered the snipers were.
Jaune found a back stairway that led up to the roof, and he opened the steel framed door to see three snipers still watching the ground below. Jaune simply fired through the heads of the closest two before holstering his pistol, not wanting to waste a bullet. As the last knight turned to face him, Jaune yelled, "Wuld!" and shot forward, slamming into the robot and stopping at the very edge of the rooftop. He looked down at his gauntleted hand that had punched all the way through the knight's chest. He casually pushed the limp body off his hand and watched it tumble to the ground below.
"Simulation ended. All hostiles eliminated. Recovery beacon retrieved."
Fire . . .
That's all he saw.
A seven year old Jaune Arc stood in his family's old living room, flames dancing out of control all around him. It seemed the fire had a mind of its own, eating away at every square inch of the house. He could no longer hear the agonizing screams of his family, nor could he find any of their cooked remains. Outside, something big let out an ear piercing roar. He watched as the fire crept closer, getting ready to devour him.
And there was nothing Jaune could do about it.
"No." He audibly protested, his voice weak from smoke and yelling for his family. For anyone to help him. He wouldn't die like this. He'd survive. It was't fair. He refused to let the world cheat him, rob him of his family, his home, his life. He'd survive. The boy made a mad dash for the kitchen, planning to reach the door that led to the backyard. He crashed through the flames, not even caring as his legs and feet were burned from the heat. His lungs took in the soot filled air, but he didn't care. They took in any good air that the flames hadn't taken in their greedy search for fuel.
He past the broken dining table, stumbled through the kitchen until he tripped, putting his hands in front to keep his face from touching the burning floor. The boy cried out in agony as the flesh on his hands seemed to melt off and he wanted to curl up into a ball and give up but his body wouldn't let him. He got back up and stumbled and crashed through the remains of the kitchen and burst through the back door. He fell straight into the snow, his body smoldering from the flames, and behind him, the Arc family house crumbled and fell on itself.
Jaune woke up in a cold sweat. It'd been a while since he'd had that dream. He shook his head and checked the clock on the wall opposite to his teammates' beds. It was 7:00 AM now, so he just decided to get up and get ready for the first day of classes.
Once showered and dressed, Jaune tried to decide the best way to wake his team up. He checked the clock again and saw it was almost eight. Eventually he just grabbed the digital clock that was on the nightstand and hit the alarm button. He ducked when a pillow shaped like a dog's face came flying at his head. He turned and saw Ruby sitting up, her eyes half closed as she yawned, "Jaune? What time is it?"
"Half past get up and get dressed, Crater Face. Classes start in an hour." He dodged another pillow before leaving the room so they could get ready.
Team JSPR and PLLN arrived at Prof. Port's class just as the bell rang and they took their seats. The professor drawled on for a good hour and most of the class just zoned out, except for Weiss who was actually taking notes. Ruby, on the other hand, passed the time goofing around. By the end of the lecture, she'd balanced several things on her finger, drawn a portrait of 'Professor Poop', and picked her nose. Jaune ignored it, seeing as how it really pissed off Weiss.
"The moral of this story: A true huntsman must be honorable, dependable, strategic, well-educated, and wise. Who among you believes to be the embodiment of these traits?"
Jaune lazily raised his hand. Judging from the size of the cage that seemed to come out of nowhere, and the growls, it was probably a small beowolf or boarbudusk. Weiss also shot her hand up and shouted, "I do, sir!"
After Weiss angrily slaughtered the boarbudusk while shouting at Ruby, who was just cheering her on, she stormed out of the room and class was dismissed. Jaune quickly followed her, with Blake and a downcast Ruby close behind.
Jaune finally caught up with her and tried to defuse the situation. He tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around. "What?!"
"What's wrong with you, Weiss? No one did anything to bother you and you're acting like we ruined your life or something."
Weiss retorted, "That's just it, Arc! You've done nothing to show that you should be leader of this team. I've studied and trained for years and frankly, I deserve better." Jaune went dead silent, his expression one of silent anger and malevolency. What the hell did this spoiled bitch know about him? "Alright," He answered calmly, "If that's how you feel, fine. We can settle things after classes."
Weiss froze at the hidden venom in his words and Jaune's sudden dark expression, "W-what do you mean?" She managed, "Sparring match. After classes we'll go at it one on one. If you win, I'll forfeit command of the team...or whatever." He then walked away to their next class.
Chapter five, everyone.
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Fireballmonkey out.